Western Hudson Bay polar bears around Churchill, Manitoba appear mostly in good shape this summer despite the very late freeze-up last fall, including the very fat bear caught on camera below (see more great pictures here):

Not only have we been seeing pictures of fat bears rather than starving bears in recent years but there are lots of them, in Western Hudson Bay and other seasonal sea ice regions where there should be none (if the models had been correct). No wonder polar bears are falling out of favour as an icon for catastrophic human-caused global warming.

Excuses for why the public is no longer worried about the future of polar bears include a recent claim by climate scientist Michael Mann that “by making polar bears and penguins the poster child for climate change, we have wrongly conveyed that this is some exotic problem far off.”

But none of these apologists acknowledge the simple truth: the models that predicted catastrophe for polar bears due to diminished summer sea ice turned out to be wrong. The sea ice declined but polar bears flourished. Polar bears in seasonal sea ice ecoregions like Western Hudson Bay and Baffin Bay didn’t die off due to climate change as people were told would happen — why should they believe any of the other scare stories?

In and around Churchill, where tourists flock to see Western Hudson Bay polar bears up close and personal, one bear in good condition recently ran through town:

I saw the article, too, and noticed something odd. The writer is reporting about what happened in 2014. Well, I thought I would look at the temperatures in Kodiak, AK, in July, 2014, and sure enough, the average for the month was 2 degrees C higher than normal. The I looked at THIS July’s temperature. Yeah, 1.3 degrees C BELOW normal. Climate change? Nah, just weather, and a lazy reporter who didn’t bother to do simple research.

Bears are very fond of berries and always have been. There is an old childrens song in Sweden “Mors lilla Olle” about a small boy who encounters a bear in the forest and feeds him with blueberries he (the boy that is) has picked. It actually did happen back in the nineteenth century. Of course that was a Brown Bear, I wouldn’t care to try it with a Grizzly.

Even polar bears eat berries, particularly cloudberries. Note that berries are a plants’ way to disperse seeds. If nobody ate them they wouldn’t exist.

Seal pups (newborns), which are the primary food source of Polar Bears, …… are only “moving targets” whenever the female seal gives birth to the pups underneath the snowpack that has accumulated on top of sea surface ice.

When the seal pup realizes that a Polar Bear is “breaking” through the snowpack above its birthing chamber …….. it will “quickly move” to and dive through the access hole in the surface ice to escape.

But when there is no sea surface ice, ….. then there is no snowpack on said ice, …… then the pregnant female seals are forced to come ashore to birth their pups ……. which makes both the birthing/nursing mother and her pup an “easy target” for hungry Polar Bears ……. and thus the PBs have become “fat and lazy” and their populations are increasing.

Samuel, you might be talking about Harbor seals (who can swim soon after birth), Harp seals cannot swim until 7-8 weeks old. Harp seals only breed on ice and spend very little time on land (I cannot find any reference to them birthing on land). As there is still lots of ice in the Arctic, why would they be birthing on land? Lastly, the common ‘suggestion’ is lack of ice is bad for polar bears, by your suggestion, no ice is good for polar bears?

Well duh! That’s when they’re fattened to go into their dens. The bear in the picture is probably pregnant. They don’t eat for four to eight months depending where they live. link When they emerge they’re dirty yellow, scrawny, very grumpy and extremely dangerous.

First of all – the scientists are probably wrong about the problems the polar bears will have due to global warming. The polar bears survived the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) which was probably pretty ice free. link

I’ve worked in close proximity to polar bear scientists, especially Ian Stirling, and their technicians. These people are first rate. They really do know everything about polar bears, their diets, their sex lives, their psychology, you name it. When they say that polar bears, as they know them, could not survive a much less icy arctic they are probably right. How then did the polar bears survive the MWP? The scientists will tell you that the MWP couldn’t have been ice free because the bears wouldn’t have survived. Well, how about the possibility that the bears adapted and started behaving in ways that the scientists haven’t observed? How about the possibility that the environment changed in ways that benefited the polar bears? Sadly, when I was going to the arctic, global warming wasn’t a thing and I didn’t ask those questions.

“HISTORICAL REVIEW
Between 1000 and 1300 average summer temperatures were about 1°C higher than today, with the mean annual temperature higher by perhaps 4°C in a largely ice-free Arctic. Eric the Red, a renowned world citizen of that time, has
been much maligned as the first progressive publicity man for giving Greenland a false image in order to attract settlers; but in truth, the southwest of that vast country was warmer and greener by far than at any time until the Fieldfares Turdus pilaris arrived there in the mid-1930s. The sea-temperature of the Atlantic
was higher than it has been since, and there appears to have been none or very little ice to hinder the Vikings’ communications between Iceland, Greenland,Newfoundland and Labrador (Mowat 1965). Indeed Brooks (1926) considers thatthe polar ice-cap may have disappeared entirely during the summer months, tobuild anew each winter.”

“I’ve worked in close proximity to polar bear scientists, especially Ian Stirling, and their technicians. These people are first rate. They really do know everything about polar bears, their diets, their sex lives, their psychology, you name it. When they say that polar bears, as they know them, could not survive a much less icy arctic they are probably right.

How then did the polar bears survive the MWP? ”

Me thinks it is a serious mistake for anyone to permit themselves to be “bedazzled n’ amazed” by others touting their Degree status and/or expertise in/of a subject matter ……. rather than said person relying on their own personal attributes of common sense thinking, logical reasoning and intelligent deductions.

“DUH”, the literal fact that the Polar bears did survive the MWP is sufficient “common-sense-thinking” evidence that NEGATES …… Ian Stirling et el’s silly claim that PBs “could not survive a much less icy arctic”.

Isn’t polar bear survival (or better put, nutritional health) more closely tied into late spring ice levels rather than the normal ice metric of Summer Minimum? I think I remember Susan Crockford stating that it is too much ice in late spring that causes poor nutritional health. This of course is contrary to the Alarmists narrative.

Polar bears need landfast ice in the spring to feed their cubs and get the moms’ weight up after hibernation. But too much can make it hard on both the bears and their ringed seal prey, whom the bears attack in their snow lairs on the ice, with escape holes into the water.

I would have thought it was obvious that the reason bears need landfast ice in spring is because that’s where the prey they rely upon at that season are to be found. For them, fatty baby seals are like Power Bars, and the moms feed themselves and the cubs.

I would have thought it was obvious that the reason bears need landfast ice in springis because that’s where the prey they rely upon at that season are to be found. For them, fatty baby seals are like Power Bars, and the moms feed themselves and the cubs.”

Gloateus,

Iffen that was your bestest example of your “common sense thinking” abilities ….. then I hafta agree with you simply because you apparently have no other conscious “choices”, therefore your ONLY reason was relegated to being your “obvious reason”.

Getta clue, Polar Bears don’t need landfast ice. The PBs only need access to female seals that are birthing/nursing their newborn pups. It is the pregnant seals that absolutely, positively have a dire need of either landfast ice or rocky shoreline for birthing/nursing purposes.

“DUH”, iffen the seals birth their pups in “open water” ……. the pup will immediately drown.

Yes, see the “truth about Polar Bears”, a good 2012 article (even though it has some warmest spin). Numbers could be as high as 40,000 (high estimate). There huge recovery is mainly due to the hunting ban back in the 70’s (go figure!), just like the whales. Point being, you never hear the good news, right!

The current scientific consensus places the worldwide polar bear population between 20,000 and 25,000 animals. Prior to the 1973 worldwide restriction on commerical polar bear hunting, that number was dramatically lower, so low that a meeting of polar bear specialists in 1965 concluded that extinction was a real possibility. Some reports even estimated the number of bears as low as 5,000 worldwide. Yet by 1990, Ian Stirling — at the time, the senior research scientist for the Canadian Wildlife Service and a professor of zoology at the University of Alberta; basically, one of the most respected polar bear scientists on the planet — felt comfortable answering the question as to whether polar bears are an endangered species by stating flatly: “They are not.” He went on to say that “the world population of polar bears is certainly greater than 20,000 and could be as high as 40,000

Duncan, the primary reason that the Polar Bear population “count” increased dramatically post-1980 is the fact that the PB “counters” started using airplanes to scan every square mile of the Polar Bear’s habitat.

Samuel, aerial surveys started early 70’s. Are the counts better now, sure, but to miss 20,000 animals, hard to say. Accuracy could always be argued but since the 80’s, numbers are increasing regardless.

Thor: Back then, there were no satellite collars, and we didn’t use helicopters. When we started to look into denning areas, we did aerial surveys by plane of all east Svalbard in 1972 to find out where those denning areas were.

On the other hand there are many reports that polar bears ashore have now learned to hide when they hear aircraft. A lot of them have been tranquilized by researchers and apparently they didn’t enjoy the experience.

And Duncan, in reference to your posted graphic denoting the INCREASE in “Global Polar Bear Population Estimates Since Summer Sea Ice Loss Began in Earnest”, …… please take notice that “SURPRISE, SURPRISE”, …… whenever there is a marked decrease in “snowpack” covered sea ice, the Polar Bears are doubly happy and thus their populations are increasing.

First of all, it either forces the concentration of “birthing” female seals on the remaining pack ice …… or it forces the “birthing” female seals to come ashore.

So, the answer to the PB’s question of ….. “Guess who is coming to be our dinner”, is to wit:

In either case, it means ……. “dinner is being served to the PBs” ….. because the female seals and their pups become easily (easier) caught prey of the predator Polar Bears.

We should be very concerned about the future of polar bears – they are so fat they are in danger of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and stroke. Let’s face it – these bears are morbidly obese, and at risk of all manner of serious illnesses.

CTM, very nice post. Hope you keep helping AW out. Commented elsewhere (Cliscep) a while ago on this general observation that polar bears were one of the several failed prediction ‘schisms’ rending the warmunist ‘religion’. This one thanks almost singlehandedly to Dr. Susan Crockford, proving one person and one blog can make a big difference in the ‘war’ AW has been generaling.
Us skeptics need a compendium of others equivalently powerful. I nominate attribution (see guest post you allowed titled ‘Why Models Run Hot’, lack of SLR acceleration (AW allowed guest post ‘SLR, acceleration, and Closure’, and anything else anywhere else that catches your fancy.

Old news as polar bears have been increasing their population since “Inconvenient Truth” was released. What’s sad is many people don’t know it and still think polar bears are endangered because of CAGW.

Polar bears survived a thousand years without ice as recently as 6000 years ago. It looks like the bigger challenge is obesity. Hard to tell if it is the back end of a polar bear or algore in some of those photos.

On the other hand a fat Polar Bear is a safe Polar Bear. They are not in the least afraid of humans and apparently consider us as a sort of upright seal. However when not hungry they are harmless. They are rather inquisitive, but they don’t defend a territory and are not at all aggressive.